August 30, 2005

The Light Movie

August 28, 2005

From My Friend and Colleague Jean Shinoda Bolen:

Dear Friends:

For an author, the publication of a new book is like a birth announcement. Here's the newest one of mine, Urgent Message From Mother; Gather the Women, Save the World. It is exciting--no matter how many previous births there have been. Official pubdate: September 1.

The homepage of my website (www.jeanbolen.com) has the image of the book jacket (she's a pretty baby), description, and advance endorsements. These are "blurbs" from Alice Walker, Gloria Steinem, Isabel Allende, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Terry Tempest Williams, environmentalist and author, William Swing the Episcopalian Bishop of California, Sue Monk Kidd, Riane Eisler, Robert Muller, former Assistant Secretary-General of the UN, Marianne Williamson, Gloria Feldt (Planned Parenthood), Gerald Jampolsky, Patricia Smith Melton and Marilyn Fowler. Their support warmed the cockles of my heart and also supports my hope and belief that Urgent Message is timely.

Mother is Mother Earth, mother archetype, mother instinct, mother goddess, the sacred feminine and expresses the need for women as a gender to bring balance into the world (not all women will get this message, those in whom the mother archetype and sister archetype are strong elements in the psyche will). Men can also get and support this message. I am advocating a third wave of the women's movement as a grassroots one centered in circles of women.

The heart of the message of the book is in this poem.

Untapped Source of Peace

Untappped source of peace,
The only real hope
Is to draw upon the collective wisdom of women.
Those with direct experience of the cost of war:
The life of child, grandchild, sibling, spouse.
The loss of limb or mind of someone near and dear,
The loss of laughter, the pervasiveness of fear,
The loss of hope for the future.

Untapped source of peace,
Those who have known domestic violence
Seen the effect of bullying on sons
Seen daughters become silent
Seen light go out in their eyes
Those who know
That when every child matters,
When none are hungry, abused, or discounted,
The world will become a kinder place
For us all.

Untapped source of peace,
Women with empathy
who live in a world apart:
Are safe, loved, and fortunate.
Yet can imagine
Being helpless, beaten and raped,
Then forced to bear a child
Conceived in violence.
Women who know in their hearts
That what happens to any woman
Anywhere
Could happen to them.

Untapped source of peace,
Women who see loved ones filled with vengeance and hate,
Hyper-vigilant, fear-ridden, or afraid to sleep
Because of the nightmares.
Husbands, brothers, sons and now daughters
Home from wars,
Bearing little resemblance to who they could have been
In a peaceful world.

August 12, 2005

New book on Grief and Grieving

Shortly before her death in 2004, Elisabeth KÃ¼bler-Ross and David Kessler, her collaborator, completed the manuscript for this, her final book. On Grief and Grieving is a fitting completion to her work, one that brings her full circle: twenty-six years and sixteen books ago, her groundbreaking On Death and Dying changed the way we talk about the end of life. Now On Grief and Grieving will profoundly influence the way those of us who remain experience the process of grief.

On Death and Dying began as a theoretical book, an interdisciplinary study of our fear of death and our inevitable acceptance of it. It introduced the world to the now-famous five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. On Grief and Grieving applies these stages to the process of grieving and weaves together theory, inspiration and practical advice, all based on KÃ¼bler-Ross and Kessler's professional and personal experiences, and filled with brief, topic-driven stories. It includes sections on sadness, hauntings, dreams, coping, children, healing, isolation, and even sex during grief.

"I know death is close," KÃ¼bler-Ross says at the end of the book, "but not quite yet. I lie here like so many people over the years, in a bed surrounded by flowers and looking out a big windowâ€¦.I now know that the purpose of my life is more than these stagesâ€¦It is not just about the life lost but also the life lived."

In one of their final writing sessions, KÃ¼bler-Ross told Kessler, "The last nine years have taught me patience, and the weaker and more bed bound I become, the more I'm learning about receiving love."
On Grief and Grieving is Elisabeth KÃ¼bler-Ross's final legacy, one that brings her life's work profoundly full circle.

August 5, 2005

A Poem by Naomi Shihab-Nye

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
You must lose things,
Feel the future dissolve in a moment
Like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
What you counted and carefully saved,
All this must go so you know
How desolate the landscape can be
Between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
Thinking the bus will never stop,
The passengers eating maize and chicken
Will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
You must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
Lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
How he too was someone
Who journeyed through the night with plans
And the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
You must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
Catches the thread of all sorrows
And you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
Only kindness that ties your shoes
And sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
Only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
And then goes with you everywhere
Like a shadow or a friend.

Naomi Shihab-Nye

(Naomi Shihab-Nye is an American-Palestinian poet, children's book writer, and peacemaker who lives in San Antonio.)

August 4, 2005

Beautiful Reflections on London and Beyond...

My friend and colleague Chrissie Blaze of The Aetherius Society wrote this letter after the recent bombings in London. It contains a beautiful message, profoundly applicable to the state of the world.

Best,

Marianne

*****************************

Dear Friends:

Like me I know you are shocked and reeling from the news of the devastating bombing in London. Having personally lived through IRA bombing attacks on London, I know how the fear and sheer uncertainty it creates on a daily basis. One never knows when and where it will strike and it is this effect that the terrorists - and the forces behind the terrorists - desire. I just heard from my mother that my beloved niece should have been on the Russell Square bus that was blown to bits - she catches it every morning. This morning, however, she decided to work on her project at home. I feel so relieved for her - and so very sad for those others.

One thing we can all do is to turn our anguish and tears into prayers for those who have died and those who are injured or who have lost loved ones.

As well as bringing healing and hope to those who are suffering, the prayer energy we send out can help to blanket London with love and balance. If enough people do this, we can overcome the fear and uncertainty that always follows such an attack, and bring that same spirit of inspiration and determination that we witnessed after 9/11, during the Blitz in London in World War II, and at other times of devastation. Prayer energy has the effect of drawing people together rather than the separating techniques used by the dark forces behind terrorism. It is a healing balm.

This really is the time in our world for us all to become workers for peace and light. It is not the time to sit on the sidelines and weep - but to use the spiritual tools we all have at our disposal - and act for the common good.

There are many people who have picked up this gauntlet in different forms. Recently we saw the effect of the Live8 concerts; there are many individuals and groups working for peace. The superb efforts of Marianne Williamson and those helping to build a Department of Peace. The organization to which I belong,The Aetherius Society is working on the level of global healing. These, and many more.

The main thing is that we are all doing something. Never underestimate what good you can do. It only takes one person to change the world. One person can create a ripple effect that will sweep through the world. Look at Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Gandhi........all of these and more cared enough to act, and their actions brought change on a global scale which will effect generations to come.

I have studied astrology for many years. One thing about the Age of Aquarius that we are in now is that it is the time for us "ordinary" people to become extraordinary. It is not the time for us to wait for others to lead the way. No longer can we stand on the sidelines. It is time for each of us to realize, deep within, that we are the harbingers of change.

Each and everyone of us has great power at our disposal, but first we must go within and find that power Some call it God, some Brahma, some Allah, some the Divine Spark - it doesn't matter what we call it, it is the great Creative Force behind and within all life - the main thing is that we draw on this deeper, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving part of us and then and then express it in loving service to humanity.

These are the days of change. It is up to each and everyone of us whether the change is towards even greater depravity, or towards peace and enlightenment. The latter can only be borne in the fires of a loving heart. We should ask ourselves honest questions at this time so that we do not live a life of regret. Are we doing enough to bring truth, love and healing into our world, or are we too caught up in the endless daily grind of meaningless activities? If it is the latter, we need to find the space to think more deeply and if we do, I know the result will be a burning desire to be of even greater service.

So please, let us join together and send our heartfelt prayers to those now suffering in London, and around the world.

Thank you for expressing the divine power of your great and loving heart.

August 2, 2005

Meditation in the Schools

Monday, Aug. 1, 2005

David Lynch Forms Meditation Foundation

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Film director David Lynch, a longtime practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, has formed a foundation that will encourage schools to use the technique in the classroom. "It's knowledge in terms of the self and it works wonders in the kids," he said.

The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace will raise money for TM peace groups and provide scholarships for students taking part in meditation programs.

He met some of those students during a visit to Maharishi Vedic City in rural southeast Iowa, considered the spiritual center of the TM movement in the United States.

"I'm convinced there are hundreds or thousands of kids who will see the truth of this and want to take part in one way or another," he said.

The meditation technique involves sitting comfortably with the eyes closed for 20 minutes, twice a day, according to the Web site of the Transcendental Meditation Program. It helps students overcome stress and perform better in the classroom by using their entire brain, rather than just a portion of it, Lynch said.

Barry Markovsky, a sociologist at the University of South Carolina, has spent years studying the Maharishi movement and Transcendental Meditation. Although he said meditating can be good for students, he's skeptical of the group's insistence that only their method is beneficial.

Lynch, who directed such films as "Mulholland Drive," "Elephant Man," "Blue Velvet," and "Wild At Heart," is currently working on a film in Los Angeles called "INLAND EMPIRE."